” A conservative group in Hollywood, shrouded in secrecy for fear of a backlash from powerful movie industry liberals, is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service after applying for tax-exempt status.

Friends of Abe has attempted to stay under the radar and is fiercely determined to protect the identity of its 1,500 members, The New York Times reports.

But now the group has come under the scrutiny of the IRS after the federal agency requested information about its meetings with politicians including 2012 vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan, former Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, and 2012 presidential hopeful Herman Cain, according to anonymous sources who have inside knowledge of the probe.”

” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s aides deliberately induced a big traffic jam as revenge against a mayor who wouldn’t endorse him. Christie denies that he was aware they were doing this. Let’s suppose, just for the sake of argument, that Christie’s telling the truth. Does that get the governor — and would-be president — off the hook?

Not necessarily. Marc Ambinder explains why, leading off with the portrait of Christie in the recent book Double Down:

Double Down‘s Christie was megalomaniacal, self-possessed, and obsessed with reciprocity: You do well by him, and he’ll do well by you. You fundraise without his permission in New Jersey, and he’ll cut the donors off. Loyalty trumped all. If Christie perceived you as disloyal, you were out of his inner circle. That’s in passive voice because Christie would leave it to his lieutenants to enforce this code of honor….”

” Famous Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh is turning his attention to the Obama administration. He told a left-wing conference over the weekend that the administration is using the NSA on a regular basis against government officials talking to the press. “If they want to, the government is capable of tracking any of us anytime, anyplace,” he said.

Hersh claimed there have been cases of people inside an intelligence service who have talked to reporters and have been told, “We know you’ve talked to this guy such and such a day, cut it out.”

As an example of how the administration manipulates the media and the public, Hersh cited the sacking of United States Army General Stanley McChrystal for making derogatory comments about President Obama and Vice President Biden, while Director of National Intelligence James Clapper remains in his job after lying to Congress.

McChrystal was caught by journalist Michael Hastings in a Rolling Stone article “making fun of the President, making fun of [Joe] Biden, and for that, of course, McChrystal got fired,” Hersh noted. “Here comes Clapper,” he went on. “He looks [Senator Ron] Wyden (D-OR) in the eye at the famous hearing you all know about and lies through his teeth, and nothing happens to him.”

” This is the fourth story in our four-part series examining your digital trail and who potentially has access to it. It was co-reported by G.W. Schulz from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Yesterday, we examined your Fourth Amendment rights and how some believe the digital age has weakened them. Today we see how government officials and private attorneys can use your online data in politics and courtrooms.

Here’s a question for the digital age: If you are one of those people who say, “I’ve done nothing wrong; I’ve got nothing to hide,” do you have any reason to worry that someone might try to use your digital records against you?

We posed that question to John Dean, a man who has become immortalized in U.S. history books as President Richard Nixon’s White House lawyer. His answer: “Think about the Nixon Enemies List.”

Dean says the history of Nixon’s Enemies List, which surfaced during the Watergate scandal, shows that even when people have done nothing wrong and think they have nothing to hide, unscrupulous government officials can still dig up personal information and use it to try to smear people.”

Julian Sanchez, a research fellow at the libertarian CATO Institute, calls this era “a golden age of surveillance.”Before computers, it took a huge amount of time and work to try to find dirt on somebody. For instance, the FBI tried to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. They wiretapped his phones, bugged his hotel rooms, and then had to listen to hundreds of hours of recordings. The Watergate scandal started unraveling after operatives physically broke into the Democratic Committee’s headquarters to plant bugs and photograph documents — and got caught. But Sanchez says the computer age lets you find intimate parts of a person’s life right in front of you, on a screen. And you can search and analyze it almost instantly, with a few clicks. “

” A group of anti-abortion activists in Iowa had to promise the Internal Revenue Service it wouldn’t picket in front of Planned Parenthood.

Catherine Engelbrecht’s family and business in Texas were audited by the government after her voting-rights group sought tax-exempt status from the IRS.

Retired military veteran Mark Drabik of Nebraska became active in and donated to conservative causes, then found the IRS challenging his church donations.”

” While the developing scandal over the targeting of conservatives by the tax agency has largely focused to date on its scrutiny of groups with words such as “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, these examples suggest the government was looking at a broader array of conservative groups and perhaps individuals. Their collective experiences at a minimum could spread skepticism about the fairness of a powerful agency that should be above reproach and at worst could point to a secret political vendetta within the government against conservatives. “

” The emerging stories from real people raise questions about whether the IRS scrutiny extended beyond applicants for tax-exempt status and whether individuals who donated to these tax-exempt organizations or to conservative causes also were targeted.”

” American voters are getting the whiff of corruption emanating out of Washington D.C.. Quinnipiac surveyed voters and found a whopping 76%-17% in favor of a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS scandal.

Even more surprising, Democrats favored 63%-30% further investigating the IRS’ targeting of pro-Constitution, Conservative, Christian and tea party groups. Furthermore, in the May 30th released poll, President Obama was given a negative 45%-49% job approval, which was just above water at 48%-45% on May 1st. Independent voters were at 37%-57% approval of President Obama.”

So for those of you keeping score at home (this reporter is still waiting for Ken Starr to send in his bracket picks) The Daily Caller presents a list of some of our favorite investigations into potential IRS wrongdoing. Which one will come up with the “Alexander Butterfield” quote?”

” GOP lawmakers home for the Memorial Day recess predict they won’t have to do anything to further fan the flames over the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.

The IRS’s treatment of Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status has already kept the full attention of Washington, and the public, for two full weeks – a length of time by which other many other controversies have faded into the background.

But in this case, the Washington media is showing no signs of losing interest, even as new developments – like the update on President Obama’s drone policies and the Oklahoma tornado – keep popping up.

“Even liberals and progressives in my district, that kind of like it that the Tea Party got it stuck to them because they don’t like the Tea Party know in their heart [that] the next administration could tip it my way.” “

Richard Nixon’s White House had Chuck Colson compile an “enemies list” of people it believed were opposing the Nixon administration’s politics. The purpose of the list was to encourage the IRS to audit and harass those listed. The IRS refused.

Fast forward 30 years. President Obama rails against the tea party movement. His Department of Homeland Security suggested early in his administration that groups that oppose big-government spending should be looked into as possible terrorist threats. And, surprise, the IRS set up a special unit to harass tea party groups that oppose big government. Obama’s White House claims not to have sent a memo asking the bureaucrats to do this. It didn’t have to.

This is an unprecedented level of corruption. Didn’t anyone in the IRS object to these attacks? It seems like everyone involved was a willing participant in this abuse of power on the president’s behalf. This isn’t one corrupt politician wishing the IRS would annoy his “enemies.” This is a good chunk of the federal government willingly bending to the will of one politician. This is how the city of Chicago works. Everyone knows what to do without telltale memos.”

” The scandal, McConnell said, extends up the chain. “The Obama effort to shut up opponents isn’t limited to the IRS,” he stated. “It applies to the FCC [Federal Communications Commission], SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission], FEC [Federal Elections Commission], HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] …. And you remember, the Obama campaign last year published a list of eight businessmen who it believed were enemies.”

He also added that the recent IRS revelations were “just the beginning of the story. This is no little thing. This is a big thing. The good news about it is they finally got caught. They finally messed with an agency everybody fully understands. When they try to quiet the critics through other agencies, it doesn’t get attention. This does. Everybody understands the IRS and how powerful they are. This is just one example of an administration-wide effort to silence critics.” “

” Wayne Allyn Root, the 2008 Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential nominee, is an outspoken political commentator. The politico, who recently announced that he’s rejoining the Republican Party and supporting Mitt Romney for president, also has a new purported role: An active member of President Barack Obama’s enemies list. Root is now alleging that the president is targeting him and using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to do it.

The problems started in January 2011, when Root, who claims to have a perfect tax record, was put through a surprise audit. At the time, he claims to have received a call from an IRS agent who said that he is a fan of Root and that it would be “an honor” to audit him — sentiments that struck the commentator as odd. The agent also told Root that he has read his political columns, listened to him on radio and visited his web site, and that he agrees with his politics.

“I found that very strange, actually chilling. It did not feel right. I got a sick feeling in pit of my stomach,” Root told WND in a recent interview. “Why would an IRS agent say such personal things? Why would he disclose that he’s a fan of mine and agrees with my politics? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” “

“In recent weeks my family has come under relentless attack from the White House political operation, elements of the Democratic Party and organizations and media outlets supported by some of the Democrats’ wealthiest donors.

These attacks stem sadly from one main reason: our support for the Republican presidential candidate as well as other Republican candidates.

Too often there is a media double standard in our country based on situational ethics. The president’s supporters are treated one way while those who might challenge his leadership are treated in another.

Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho businessman who has contributed significantly to Mitt Romney’s campaign, was previously targeted by the Obama campaign as a “less-than-reputable” individual, as well as a “litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.”

“Try this thought experiment: You decide to donate money to Mitt Romney. You want change in the Oval Office, so you engage in your
democratic right to send a check.
Several days later, President Barack Obama, the most powerful man on the planet, singles you out by name. “His campaign brands you a Romney donor, shames you for “betting against America,” and accuses you of having a “less-than-reputable” record. The message from the man who controls the Justice Department (which can indict you), the SEC (which can fine
you), and the IRS (which can audit you), is clear: You made a mistake donating that money.
Are you worried? ”

As I’ve been saying , the politicization of the entire Federal Government is now complete . It is our enemy .